Could you soon be seeing “La bohème” at the Lady Melania Trump Opera House? Republicans on the U.S. House of Representatives this week voted to change the name of the Kennedy Center venue in Washington D.C., but it isn’t official yet.
“The FY2026 Interior & Environment @HouseAppropsGOP Bill includes my language to name the Opera House at the Kennedy Center after @FLOTUS,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said in a Wednesday X post. “Democrats are furious that we’re naming something after the First Lady - even though it’s not unprecedented to name a room after someone,” he added, referencing the Pelosi Caucus Room named for former House Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelolsi (D-Calif.).
According to a Tuesday press release from the House Appropriations committee, the name change was included in an amendment to the bill that was passed with a 33 to 25 vote.
The John. F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named after the late Democratic President John F. Kennedy, has roots going back to 1955, when then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower “established a commission for a new public auditorium in the nation’s capital,” per the center website. Today, it is one of the world’s most respected arts organizations. In 2011, the Washington National Opera became affiliated with the center.
Inside the Kennedy Center there are multiple theaters, including the Concert Hall, the Eisenhower Theater, the Family Theater, the Terrace Theater and the Opera House. Currently, the Opera House does not have a namesake. It’s the second-largest theater in the center with 2,347 seats and it was designed for ballet, opera, and musical theater.
“Over the years, the Opera House has welcomed dozens of the world's great dance and opera companies and has hosted some of the most important artistic events of the last quarter century,” according to the Kennedy Center site.
The Hill noted that the move by House GOP members comes just months after President Donald Trump made an unprecedented choice to overhaul the Kennedy Center’s board and naming himself as its chair. He claimed that the institution was too “woke,” said the outlet. Additionally, it said that Trump and the first lady “who bucked tradition during his first term in office and declined to take part in the annual Kennedy Center Honors.”
However, they attended the opening night performance of “Les Misérables” at the center this month.
“It remains unclear when GOP leaders plan to put the legislation, with the amendment, on the floor for a vote of the full chamber,” said The Hill.